Westlake Plans to Shut Down Plants in Mississippi and Louisiana

The company said the closures reflect challenging market conditions and will shift production to other North American chlorovinyl facilities.

Dec. 15, 2025

2 min read

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Westlake said it plans to cease operations at several North American chlorovinyl and styrene production facilities, with shutdowns expected to occur in December 2025. The decision reflects persistent challenging market conditions in the global commodity chemicals sector, according to the company.

The approved plan includes the closure of a polyvinyl chloride plant in Aberdeen, Mississippi, with annual capacity of about 1 billion pounds of suspension PVC resin.

The company also plans to shut down a vinyl chloride monomer unit at its Lake Charles, Louisiana North site with capacity of about 910 million pounds per year, along with one diaphragm chlor-alkali unit at the Lake Charles South site producing about 825 million pounds of chlorine and 910 million pounds of caustic soda annually.

In addition, the company said it will cease operations at its styrene production plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which has annual capacity of about 570 million pounds.

Following the closures, Westlake said it will continue supplying customers from its remaining seven North American chlorovinyl facilities. The company expects to retain aggregate annual capacity of about 4.9 billion pounds of suspension PVC, 6.05 billion pounds of VCM, 5.41 billion pounds of chlorine and 6.1 billion pounds of caustic soda in North America, according to the release.

The company said the closures are expected to reduce its workforce by about 295 employees. Westlake also said it expects to record pre-tax charges related to the shutdowns, with a substantial portion recognized in the fourth quarter of 2025, although related cash outflows are expected to extend over several years.

This piece was created with the help of generative AI tools and edited by our content team for clarity and accuracy.